The Evans Company, located in Attleboro Massachusetts first began as handbag and accessory manufacturer in the early teens. By the early to mid 20’s they began producing lighters using the lift arm system, similar to the system used by Alfred Dunhill except that the flint wheel was mounted vertically rather than horizontally. The Evans Company produced many beautiful lighters with this system incorporating enameled designed cases to house the mechanism. They made matching cigarette cases and many beautiful perfume atomizers with similar designed cases.
When the Ronson system began to take on more popularity due to its ease of use, The Evans Company made their own version of the one press system called the Trig-a-lite mechanism and quickly the Ronson Company started a lawsuit against Evans for copying their system. Litigation when on for many years and finally Ronson won and Evans had to settle with Ronson.
During the 1940’s and 1950’s, the Evans Company produced hundreds of decorative table lighters using beautiful enameled bases in various shapes, many in the shapes of fruits and used the same lighter unit in all their models. This lighter unit was easy to fit into any decorative base and was used for many years. With the advent of the butane system, Evans designed the same size unit in butane so that users could easily convert their decorative bases into butane lighters. The Evans Company produced lighters into the 1970’s.